Abdominal belt.



C. ATONNA.

ABDOMINAL BELT.

APPLIGATloN FILED SEPT. 30, 1912.

1,097,383, Patented May 19, 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

Il 'Wl 'i I1 Miu;

G. ATONNA.

ABDOMINAL BELT.

APPLICATION FILED sI;1 T so. 1912.

1,097,383. Patented May19,1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEIoE.

CARMELO ATONNA, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

.ABDOMINAL BELT.

To all ori/71,0177. it' may conce/Mt Be it known that I, CARMELO ATONNA,a subject of the King of Italy, and resident of the city of New York, inthe county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Abdominal Belts, of which the fol.- lowing isa specification.

The present invention relates to abdominal belts or supporters, and hasfor one of its objects to provide a device of this type which can bereadily adjusted to different forms and also abnormal conditions of thebody, supporting the parts in an effective manner without inconvenienceto the wearer.

Another' object of the invention is to provide the abdominal belt withmeans to prevent the upward movement of the belt upon the body, suchmeans being constructed in such a manner so as not to irritate orinconvenience the perineum or the exterior genital organs of the wearer.

A further object of the invention is to produce a. belt with means whichis adapted to support the abdominal walls in case of relaxation of thesame or in another position to hold 'the inguinal hernia or hernias, andin both cases to protect at the same time the post-operative scar orscars which might be present in those parts of the body.

With these and other objects in View, which will more fully appear asthe nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists inthe combination, arrange ment and construction of parts hereinafterfully described, pointed out in the appended claim and illustrated inthe accompanying drawings, it being understood that many changes may bemade in the size and proportion of the several parts and minor detailsof construction within the scope of the appended claim without departingfrom the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

One of the many possible embodiments of the invention is illustrated inthe accom panying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a front elevation ofthe belt stretched out flat; Fig. 2 shows the belt applied to the bodyof a wearer in front elevation; Fig. 3 in rear elevation; and Fig. 4shows in front elevation positions of the parts differing somewhat fromthose shown in Fig. 2.

In the drawings, the numeral 10 represents the front of the support orbelt, made,

Speceation of Letters Patent.

Application led September 30, 1912.

Patented May 1 i), 1914. Serial No. 723,164.

preferably, of a flexible but non -elastic material, for instanceleather, although it will be easily seen that a suitable fabric or aplurality of layers of fabric of the proper strength might just as wellbe used. This front is substantially trapeziform, the larger one of itstwo parallel sides forming the upper edge and the smaller one the loweredge of the belt. The formation of the front of the belt correspondsthus substantially to that of the anterior wall of the abdomen of thehuman body. At suitable intervals the front part 10 is provided withslots 11, the functions of which are to permit the front part toaccommodate itself fully to the shape of the wall of the abdomen, and toprovide at the same time a very effective ventilation which is verynecessary in an article of this kind which is worn constantly. Aplurality of stays 19., 12 are provided, the extreme ones of these staysbeing' arranged at the inclined edges of the front 10, and the othersbetween the same. To the front are attached triangular elastic sections13 and 14, which are united with the back parts 15 and 16, respectively,said back parts being smaller in height than the front, wherebya belt isformed which decreases in height from the middle to its ends. The backparts are also provided with longitudinal slots,- denoted by thenumerals 17, 17, for the same purpose as the slots in the front part.Stays 1S, 1S of a suitable material are arranged upon the back parts 15and 16, to give said back parts the required rgidness.

To the back part 15 aresecured in any suitable manner two nouelasticstraps 19, 19, preferably of web, of a suitable width and strength, thesaid straps meeting at 20 and being united with a. single non-elasticstrap 21, the end of which carries a buckle 22 of any suitableconstruction, which buckle is adapted to engage a non-elastic strap 23which is fastened to the outer end of the back part 16. The inner end ofthe strap 28 is provided with a plurality of perforations 24, Q4, whichare adapted to engage a stud Q5 upon the back part 15. Before the buckle22 is engaged with the strap 23, the free end of 'the latter is passedthrough either one of two supporting loops Q6 or 27, for a purposehereinafter to be described. The supporting loops 26 and 27 are formed,preferably, by sewing transversely a strip of leather or tape to thecentral section of the belt.

In line with the inclined edges of the front part of the belt areattached to the latter elastic straps 28, 28, the free ends of which areprovided with non-elastic portions 29, Q9, the latter havingbutton-holes 30, 30 adapted to engage buttons 31, 31, arranged near thelower portions of the front edges of the back parts of the belt.

The device is applied as follows: The belt is placed about the body andone of the perforations 2a in the strap 23 engaged with the stud 25. Thestrap 23 is then passed through the aperture, formed between thenon-elastic straps 19, and through either one of the loops 2G and 2T, tobe engaged, after being drawn tight, with the buckle 22. H, forinstance, the abdominal walls of the patient are relaxed and are to besupported,

the strap 28 is drawn through the upper one of the loops, that is theloop 26, and if on the other hand the inguinal hernia or hernias are tobe held, the strap is drawn through y the lower loop, that is the loop27. The belt will, of course, at the same time in both cases protect thepost-operative scar or scars, if there is or are any in these regions.The elastic straps 28, 2S are then applied to the legs of the wearer andtheir button-holes engaged with their buttons 31. It should be observedthat the strap 28, which is attached to the left-hand edge of the frontpart 10, is drawn around that leg of the wearer which is to some extentencircled by the elastic section 13 and the back part 15 of the belt,and the other elastic strap around the other leg. Owing to the fact thatthese straps are arranged at an angle to each other, or in other wordsin line with the inclined edges of the front part, the said straps willin no way inconvenience or irritate the perineum or the exterior genitalorgans of the wearer. As far as known, in all other belts heretoforeused these straps run parallel to each other and cause therebyinconvenience to the parts mentioned.

lt should be noted that by making the front part 10 and the back parts15 and 16 of leather, which, although liexible, is nonelastic, anefficient and well resisting abdominal support and compress is obtained.By providing the slots in the front and back parts of the belt, the freepassage of air is assured, the weight of the belt reduced and a fittingof the structure to the abdominal wall obtained. This, in combinationwith the particular formation of the front part 10, will cause thelatter to fit anatomically that section of the abdomen which is veryeasily weakened and which needs Vmostly support.

The sections 13 and 14 of the belt are made elastic to allow of freeambulatory movements of the wearer, and at the same time of a` freemovement of the flanks of the trunk.

That I claim is z An abdominal belt comprising a substantiallytrapeziform front part, back parts and triangular elastic sectionsconnecting said front and back parts, non-elastic straps attached to theends of said back parts, means for detachably fastening together theends of said straps, supporting loops for holding said straps in theirproper positions, one of said straps being provided with a plurality ofperforations, a stud upon one of said back parts adapted to be seated inone of said perforations for adjustably holding the ends of the backparts together, elastic straps lixedly attached in line with theinclined downwardly converging edges of said front part, and coactingmeans upon the free ends of said elastic straps and the front edges ofsaid back parts for securing the said ends to said back parts,substantially as and for the purpose specied,

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York,this 16th day of September, A. D. 1912.

CARMELO ATONNA.

Vitnesses z SIGMUND HERZOG, S. BIRNBAUM.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for iive cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

